One of the most difficult tasks in water leak detection and localization is in water distribution systems with intermittent supply – especially if the supply-time is very short (one or two hours), so the time for using test rods, ground microphones, correlators, noise loggers, hydrophones and so on is often just too short. The same occurs with very low water pressures (0,5 bar for instance). Which methods are not depending on those factors and what are their limitations and best conditions to use in?
Is temperature difference between water supply vs ambient ground temperature enough to use temperature as an indicator? For large breaks/leaks possibly use FLIR mounted on drone? - We have used this procedure to identify groundwater seeps to surface water. Very helpful in large scale mapping.
Dear Peter Philbrook , thank you very much for your answer.
You are right: Thermal Drones are in use for leak detection. They are in more widespread use with hot water supply (for heating) as the temperature difference you mentioned is often much higher, especially in winter time. They are also in use for cold drinking water, but then often depend on how deep the pipelines are, the temperature differences and also the surface conditions (pavement) etc. The problem with low pressure is that additionally there is less water, so I think it will require even more temperature difference. With intermittent supply the problem should be that you will only have a very short time: When the service starts the temperature difference (on the surface) will take some time to build up, and when it stops in a short time the temperature difference will go down after a while (depending on soil conditions). In summary: I believe it would work in lower pressure for larger leaks and/or with higher temperature differences and in intermittent supply for a short time – but as thermal drones are much faster than other methods (acoustic methods above all) it can be a good alternative if other conditions are good. I didn´t thought about it – so thank you again for this clever idea!!! Greetings from Peru.
If temperature alone can't be used, aerial drone footage above where pipe lines are run could show changes in vegetation, indicating some areas are more hydrated than others, which could be an indication of water leakage.
Good Luck! -
A road can be to increase the schedule of service and or to increase the pressurization of the net, this allows that the conventional teams of detection of leaks can work efficiently, another form is to endow the circuit of takings of pressure in the sector and to locate fallen abrupt of pressure that are not justified by consumption.
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